Of the 117 students supported in 2021, 46 were in elementary and high school, 27 were in technical careers and 44 in university. Some of our university and technical students, with empathy and solidarity, provided extra help in the way of online support and in person extra classes for our elementary and high school students who were experiencing difficulty due to online education.
In 2021, our students, conscious of the fact that they receive support from many sponsors and organizations, did their best to complete their studies. 59 of our students received bonuses for their good grades, and this was always helpful for covering extra expenses, particularly during the pandemic.
45 students were also supported with cellphones, laptops and internet access so they could attend their classes online. Another 13 students borrowed books from our library.
According to our students’ requirements, they were provided with school materials and equipment for their higher education. 24 students needed support in 2021 for short term courses and travel expenses for class trips. Many university programmes required extra English and in 2021 Helping Hands supported 12 of our students with complementary English classes through an agreement we have with the FIRST CLASS Institute which gives Helping Hands a 50% discount.
In order to protect our students’ health, 66 young people had a dental check-up, 55 received dental treatments, 16 received health care and 5 received psychological support.
In coordination with parents and teachers, our Social Worker and our Counselors monitor our students’ progress. This is very important for the students to feel accompanied, advised and supported in their activities. In 2021 the Social Worker monitored 88 students and the Counselors interviewed 99 students online.
Helping Hands encourages volunteerism. Our students are required to do a volunteer activity twice a year according to their possibilities and the needs of their communities. They are very grateful to receive support from Helping Hands for their studies, and they in turn enjoy doing something to help others around them who may need it. Their activities include cleaning up their neighbourhoods, giving food and school materials to families in need, working with disadvantaged youth, visiting the elderly, feeding abandoned dogs and much more.
In order for the Helping Hands team to continue developing its capabilities and personal skills for a better intervention with our population, workshops were held on Leadership, Strategic Planning and Fundraising with the assistance of the entire staff. Likewise, workshops were held with full staff participation for the review and implementation of Institutional Anti-fraud and Anti-corruption Policies, Vulnerable Population Protection and Disclosure of Bad Practices in the Workplace. All these regulations are being applied, having received feedback according to the experiences of each area.
In spite of all the difficulties encountered in 2021, we are thankful that our students met their goals and rose to the challenges of the pandemic. Although we could not celebrate with our traditional Christmas party, thanks to many contributors, all of our students received the gifts of Christmas bread (paneton), powdered milk, cocoa, cookies and gifts for the younger children.
Our work and our students’ success would not have been possible without the contribution of our funders who, with their partnership and solidarity, have made the dreams of each of our students come true. Many thanks from each of our students and their families, as well as the all of the Helping Hands team. We send you our very best wishes for a healthy, successful 2022.
Thanks to our special partners who donated the funds to buy the Christmas breads, cocoa, powdered milk, cookies and children´s gifts, our students had a Merry Christmas indeed. The children 13 and under received a board game set of 8 games and a National Geographic magazine in Spanish. They were fascinated by the pictures!!
This month we would like to introduce you to Angel, our communications and publicity man, here with his 3 year old son, Dan. Angel produces our videos, illustrates our reports and posts on our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/HHPBolivia
Recently Angel produced four 1 minute videos of our Entrepreneurship students who won full scholarships at the Catholic university in their entrepreneurship programme, TUSGE Today we are featuring the video he produced of Marina, a graduate from this programme who now has her own store in the small town of Entre Rios in the tropical area of Bolivia. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPER PUBLICITY, ANGEL!!
We appreciate so very much your continued support for our students as they work toward realizing their dreams of having an education and becoming positive, productive members of their communities. You are an important part of their success.
The school year will begin soon and our registrations have begun. In the next newsletter we will be able to present to you some of our new “dreamers.” In the meantime, donations are always so welcome to keep our students in school.
https://bit.ly/3n1R9P3
https://bit.ly/2XjTFY0
We are all so happy and proud to see two of our students achieve their goals. Thanks to Helping Hands, Ruth graduated in Early Childhood Education at the Instituto Balaguer. She is very pleased to have been able to finish her career in spite of the pandemic. Ruth is now ready to start working with children which is her dream come true.
Luz Maria has finished her coursework in Business Administration in Tourism, Hotel Management and Gastronomy at the UNICEN University. She would like to return to the Amazon area of Bolivia which is her home and work in the tourism industry there. She is now well prepared to make her dream come true and provide a better future for her family.
Congratulations on their well-deserved achievement!
STUDENTS GIVE A HELPING HAND
September is volunteer month at Helping Hands. All of our students engage in a volunteer service of their choosing. The majority of our volunteers reported that even helping out with the smallest tasks can make a real difference in the lives of people in need, in the community around us and to the lives of abandoned animals. Giving food to the homeless, picking up garbage from the streets and feeding street dogs were some of the choices they made.
GIVING FOOD TO PEOPLE IN NEED
“While helping the homeless, I could see the satisfaction in their eyes when they received the snack. It was a wonderful experience for me to know that with a small gesture of solidarity and love we can make some people happy. I hope I will have the means to do this more often.”
Luzmila
PICKING UP TRASH
“My brothers and I decided to collect garbage and clean up a dirty square near where we live. We put the garbage in bags and waited for the garbage truck to take them away. I felt very happy to be able to do something for my neighborhood.”
Yhail
FEEDING STREET DOGS
"Where I live, it is normal to see dogs in the streets, parks and squares. Although none of the dogs have owners, I think we as neighbors should take some responsibility for the dogs. Giving them some food is the least I could have done.”
Sergio
Thank you all so very much for the support for our Christmas Baskets. We have now reached our goal to give each student Christmas bread, cocoa, powdered milk, cookies and a gift.
Looking ahead to 2022, through GlobalGiving, Helping Hands will be joining the worldwide GivingTuesday Campaign, November 30th and we will be sending out a reminder a couple of days before. During this one day campaign all donations will receive an incentive, or matching, which in 2020 reached 33% of the donations that day. This is a great day for sponsors to send funds for their students for 2022 as the amount donated will be increased considerably.
Donations are always welcome at the following links:
https://bit.ly/3n1R9P3
At Helping Hands we consider workshops very important for our students. They are informative, improve communication skills, impart knowledge, keep us connected with others and renew our motivation. Due to COVID-19, these workshops are currently being held online.
In July the workshop “Leaders and Pseudo-leaders” was led by Walter. He told us about what skills leaders should develop and how anyone can develop these leadership skills.
IS A LEADER BORN OR MADE?
Our August workshop, “And that’s how our scientific career starts,” was held by the Biologist Erika. This workshop was designed for our young high school students between the ages 12 and 18. Erika showed the students that science is advancing at a rapid pace, and the job market in this area is expected to grow fast. Science is a diverse, far-reaching, challenging, and endlessly-fascinating field.
SCIENCE IS FASCINATING
Our September workshop “Personal Development and Values Toward Permanent Success”. was held by Gerson Alvarez. We chose this important topic since we know that personal growth can help our young students in all areas of their life. It will help them grow emotionally and psychologically to become a more loving, compassionate, and positive person. Gerson did a good job of motivating us to bring out the best in ourselves.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
WE INVITE YOU TO WATCH OUR LATEST VIDEO ABOUT OUR TWINS DEIVID AND DANIEL WHO LIVE IN THE ALTIPLANO.
CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER!!
We are so very proud of Carina, Cesar and Junior. With the support of Helping Hands, Carina graduated in Biochemistry at the prestigious state university here in La Paz. She has now won a scholarship in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to do her Doctoral studies. Cesar has now officially graduated as an Electromechanical Engineer at the same state university, the UMSA. And last Friday July 2, Yunior successfully defended his thesis with a grade of 95% in Petroleum Engineering, again at the UMSA. Well deserved!!
PAYING IT BACK
During the pandemic many of our elementary students have had difficulty keeping up with new material online and so several of our older students and a volunteer, Camila, have been supporting them with extra tutoring. Thank you Lizeth, Cesar and Camila for the extra support. Israel is completing his 3 months of internship in our office helping Fabiola and Janneth with their many duties. Thanks for the support, Israel.
So many new students this year!! We have accepted 35 new students. Maybe you would like to get onboard and take on a new student. Please visit the Sponsorship page of our website.
Sponsorships or one time donations to help provide for our supplementary food baskets and internet access for students are always so welcome on our GlobalGiving website. THANK YOU!!
Visit the Altiplano!
Maria Salas, our Social Worker, and Fabiola, our Accountant, took a trip to the countryside to visit three of our younger students there, Daniel and Deivis, who are twins, and Lucy from the same village. Take a trip to the Bolivan countryside by watching this super video!!
GETTING BACK TO WORK:
The pandemic has made it so difficult for the students to find part time work to help with personal expenses. However, with a little determination Luzmila has found work taking care of elderly patients, Gilda has found a spot to perform her internship in the countryside, Sara is now working part time at a pastry shop and Oscar found agricultural work. Stay positive!
LET’S ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER:
During the month of May our students all wrote notes for one another to lift our spirits during the third wave of the pandemic.
Maicol says, “Don’t forget to use your face mask because we are waiting for you at home.”
Nataniela says, “Let’s maintain the hope that we will come out of this pandemic together.”
OUR WORKSHOPS:
In April we learned about “MANAGING OUR FINANCES” given by Vierca, our new Programme director.
In May we had two workshops “Prevention of Violence” given by Sra. Silvia and “How to be successful on entering the labour market,” presented by Lic. Walter. Both workshops held the attention of the students and they had many questions about finding a job.
In June we continued the workshop on “The Prevention of Violence” which was well presented by the Sra. Silvia.
NEWS
This year we welcomed 110 students, 30 of them are new. We wish them all a very successful upcoming year! Check out our 2021 students
ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES
Our Program Director Pamela left Helping Hands in mid-February for family reasons. We are very grateful to her for all the work she did which has contributed to our organization having legal and administrative requirements that will allow Helping Hands to expand.
THANK YOU PAMELA!
WE WISH YOU ALL THE BEST IN YOUR NEW ADVENTURE
And now we welcome our new Program Director Vierca Mejía who is very enthusiastic to continue the work that Pamela started. We will strive to overcome the new challenges and achieve new goals for the benefit of all of our students.
OUR STUDENTS
There is no greater joy than seeing the positive results of our work, the sponsors’ commitments and our students’ efforts.
GILDA
Gilda is a student of Dentistry at the Public University UMSA. She completed her rural internship in Dentistry in the town of Hilata from February until the end of March. Now she will begin her urban internship for 3 months to finish her studies and begin the process of graduation. Congratulations Gilda, you are just a step away from your degree and being able to contribute your skills to society.
REYNA VANESSA
Reyna Vanessa is studying Public Accounting at the UNICEN and will complete her coursework in June of this year. She will then begin the graduation process which will take another six months. Before joining Helping Hands, Vanessa enrolled in sewing classes hoping to be able to cover some of her living expenses and save money for her graduation by taking in sewing. She turned out to be quite the entrepreneur and now has a small business of her own.
Go for it, Vanessa, we need enterprising people who can create jobs. We are sure you will do very well.
It is the beginning of the school year again and Helping Hands has many new students who need sponsors. If you would like to sponsors a student or just help out with a one-time donation, please visit OUR SPONSORSHIP PAGE or visit us at this link https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/education-for-at-risk-bolivian-girls/ or https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/help-bolivian-youth-access-higher-education/
This new year 2021, so many young people are hoping for the opportunity of an education which allows them to achieve their dreams. We wish we could help everyone, but because of our limited resources we must limit our acceptances. Helping Hands requires a lengthy application form to be filled out and a home visit (virtual this year) for all applicants. So far we have accepted 30 new students for 2021. We welcome this great group of dreamers, who put all their effort into achieving their goals.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES DISTRIBUTION
In March we distributed school supplies to all of our elementary and high school students. They were most grateful to have the materials required by their schools so they can keep up with their studies. Schools in Bolivia do not provide books and materials for the students making it difficult for poorer families to keep their children in school.
WORKSHOPS
In February, we held our first online workshop of the year with all of our students. This welcoming workshop was also informative. Given by our Helping Hands team, we talked about the monthly requirements, scholarship opportunities, dates for coming workshops and much more.
Considering the importance of our students’ health, in March our workshop was directed by a Dentist, Doctor Gisela, a former Helping Hands student. Dr. Gisela gave us a very informative workshop on Dental Care, and she also explained how to choose a suitable toothpaste and toothbrush and how to use them correctly. Thank you Dr. Gisela!!
Links:
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating.
We'll only email you new reports and updates about this project.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
Make a monthly donation & get 
